2.4 Risk and protective factors: peer relationships

This course will explore the dynamic factors affecting the health and wellbeing of young people around the world, and how important it is for individuals, communities and nations that we improve the health and life chances of this important population group.
With over 25% of the world’s population aged between 10 and 24 years, today’s generation of young people is the largest in human history. As the future leaders and drivers of growth, productivity and innovation, young people are our greatest assets, and investment in their health and wellbeing has social, economic and other benefits that continue across the lifespan and into the next generation.
In this course we will adopt a life-course framework to take a holistic view of youth health and wellbeing. We will explore changing patterns of adolescent health and development, including why adolescence is starting earlier and ending later; how puberty and adolescent brain development may shape future health; and how what happens in adolescence can affect the start to life for the next generation. We’ll also look at the major health and social issues affecting young people and ways of addressing these through policy, practice and programming.
COURSE FORMAT:
This course comprises short video lectures and interviews, required and recommended readings, online discussion, quizzes and written assignments. There is no required text for this course and all readings are provided.
DO I HAVE TO PAY FOR THIS COURSE?
No- you may access 100% of material in this course for free. You are also welcome to do as much or as little of the course as you like, including all (or none!) of the assessment tasks- it all depends on your learning goals. The option to pay for this course is there for those who wish to receive a Course Certificate as evidence of completion (which does require you to attempt and successfully pass the assessment tasks).
WHO IS THIS COURSE FOR?
This course will be relevant for anyone with an interest in the health and wellbeing of young people. You do not need to be of any particular personal or professional background to benefit from this course, but having some basic undergraduate study experience will be helpful to your learning (particularly if in a health related field).
WHAT IS THE MOST INTERESTING THING I'LL LEARN IF I TAKE THIS COURSE?
You’ll learn how so much of what happens during adolescence can impact not only the future health of individuals, but the health of the next generation as well. You’ll develop a greater understanding of the key factors impacting upon youth health and learn how to be a better advocate for the health and wellbeing of young people.
View the MOOC promotional video here: http://tinyurl.com/z5l4mod

This week we return to our conceptual framework and unpack the key concepts of social determinants of health and risk and protective factors. We explore what these terms mean and how they influence and shape adolescent health and development. We also begin to apply this knowledge at a practical level in terms of the interventions and actions we can take to improve or maintain health and wellbeing during the adolescent and young adult years, or prevent problems from happening in the first place.

教学方

Professor Susan Sawyer

Chair of Adolescent Health

Professor George Patton

Professorial Fellow

脚本

Peer influence, peer pressure, social contagion and copy cat behaviour are terms that you're likely to come across in reading around adolescent health and development. This slide is an illustration of what these terms are referring to. Tobacco use is one example. Another health risk where peer attitudes and behaviour are among the most important factors influencing whether a young person takes up the behaviour or not. This slide illustrates another way in which friends and peers more subtly influence health during the adolescent years. Identity formation happens during late childhood and the early adolescent years. It happens in the context of the peer groups and the competition for social status within that group. The young monks on the left compete around values related to humility, piety and generosity. The boys on the right, around a much more macho set of values and attitudes. These values and attitudes shape identity and identity in turn shapes the lifestyles and health risks that these young boys will adopt. I showed this slide in one of the, this week's earlier lectures. To illustrate the changing social influences and determinants of health across the life course, the one that I left out was peer influence. Peers matter particularly for the adolescent years because it is in these years where peer influence really reaches its peak. And as the adolescent years extend out for a longer period of time into young adulthood and as we create the settings in which young people have greater contact with other young people. And as we change patterns of communication, so that young people are more interconnected with other young people, so too peer influences increase. Some commentators have suggested that the huge, extensions that we've see in media and advertising influences on young people's lifestyle is equivalent to a super peer. There is now almost a bewildering new set of possibilities for influencing knowledge, attitudes and values and the lifestyles of all of us. And young people in particular through today's social networking and digital media. These media are influencing health in a range of ways. They're further driving a global shift in attitudes and values that are related to almost all aspects of health. Sexual and reproductive health, mental health and body image. Substance use and abuse are just a few. In some instances these values and attitudes will be out of step with those of family and local communities, raising a possibility of conflict, stigma, social discrimination. This is particularly true around patterns of sexual behaviour. The media are also shifting access to information with many positive influences, but also some downsides. In many parts of the world, the new media have become the major source of information about sex and sexual expectations with profound influences on both young men and young women. It's also shifting the who, the where, and the how contact with peers. Bullying has long been recognised as a cause of emotional distress. But with the advent of electronic media, bullying is no longer restricted to the school yard. It now commonly takes place around the clock. This type of shift has profound implications of mental health. This slide lists some of the characteristics that peer group that have been linked and research studies to multiple health and social risks during adolescence. Having a group of friends who engage in health risks or who have favourable attitudes to that particular behaviour is a common underlying factor across many of these risk behaviours and risk states that are linked to health. Self harm is one example of a health risk behaviour where peer influence or social contagion is a particularly prominent influence. Images such as these are available through the internet and young people who engage in self harm may engage with these self harm bulletin boards. For most, exposure to images such as these is likely to perpetuate the problem. Self harm is also an example of a health risk that's clearly associated with being part of a particular youth subculture. The emo or goth subculture is one where self harm is accepted, and in some instances, a valued attribute that identifies an individual as a member of the group. But it's not just limited to mental health risks. Some of the new social and sexual connection apps that allow very different patterns of sexual engagement for young people that may in turn carry significant risks for sexually transmitted infections and HIV. So the message is that in our globalised world, peer influence is shifting and matter more and more, in the way in which they're shaping adolescent health and development.